10 YA Books To Read During Mental Health Awareness Month and All Year Long

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. So, I compiled a list of my top ten favorite books with mental health representation including Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Suicidal Thoughts, Depression, OCD, & Addiction. #MentalHealthMatters

WATCH HERE

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The Books and Trigger Warnings

The purchase links below are affiliate codes. If you use them to purchase any of these books, I own a small commission and it helps me to create more content at no extra cost to you!

*Trigger warnings are provided from the book’s The Story Graph pages. Click the book titles to read my full reviews of the books.

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The Science of Being Angry by Nicole Melleby – ADHD, Depression, & Intrusive Thoughts

CW: bullying, blood, injury, mention of pregnancy and childbirth, anxiety and anger, mention of hospital visit, intrusive thoughts, depression

Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas – Anxiety

Content warnings: Anxiety, Intrusive Thoughts, Medical Content (Trip to the Dentist), Bullying

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster by Manka Kasha- Anxiety

CW: Anxiety

Icebreaker by A.L. Grazaidei: Depression & Anxiety [18+]

CW: Alcohol, Sexual Content, Depression, Anxiety, Abandonment, Intrusive thoughts, Scene where character takes meds with alcohol

The Sound of Us by Julie Hammerle – Social Anxiety

No CW’s available

TOP TEN by Katie Cotugno – Social Anxiety

CW: Anxiety attack, Brain Injury and Brain Trauma (Concussions), Absentee parenting

Heartstopper and This Winter by Alice Oseman – OCD, Eating Disorder, and Anxiety

*Volumes 3 and 4 talk about Charlie’s OCD and eating disorder

Volume 3:

• Eating disorder – discussion, behavior, and one scene in which a character passes out
• One brief reference to past self-harm
• Brief references to past bullying

Volume 4:

• Anorexia – portrayals of restrictive eating behaviour and other discussions around eating disorders, with a focus on anorexia.
• Self-harm – references to incidents of self-harm (though there is no on-page self-harm)
• Psychiatric ward – a character stays briefly in a psychiatric ward and has an overall positive experience there.
• OCD – brief discussions of OCD symptoms.
• Therapy, including a brief discussion of trauma.
• Brief references to past bullying.

This Winter:

• Eating disorder – discussion and behavior
• Depression – discussion and behavior
• References to past self-harm, including a major self-harm relapse
• References to time spent at a psychiatric ward
• Ignorant views regarding mental illness

All Content Warnings can be found on Oseman’s site.

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone (OCD)

CW: OCD, Suicide, Panic attack, Cancer, Bullying, Death of a Parent, Depression, Hallucinations, Bullying, Ableism, Intrusive Thoughts, Mentions of Self-Harm, Derealization

Little Universes by Heather Demetrios – Addiction

 CW: Opioid Addiction, Overdose, Abortion, Cheating, Depression, Suicide Attempt, Death of parents, Grief

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman – Schizophrenia

CW: Schizophrenia, Depression, Suicide, Talk of death

Delicates by Brenna Thummler – depression and suicidal thoughts

CW: Depression, Suicidal thoughts, Illusions to suicide, Bullying, Grief & Loss

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SHOP THE LIST